Karel Lek was a painter who was born in Antwerp and moved with his parents as refugees to North Wales when he was still a boy. An artist of great versatility studied at Liverpool College of Art, 1951-52. He is a member of Royal Cambrian Academy and the SWE and his work has been exhibited at the RA, RCamA, National Eisteddfod of Wales, Whitechapel Art Gallery, SWE, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Albany Gallery, Cardiff, ICA, London, Craft Centre of Great Britain, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Oriel Mon and at the NMW.
He has held solo exhibitions at the Woodstock Gallery, Tegfryn Gallery, Donal Pass Gallery, Bangor Art Gallery and at the RCamA. His works are in the collections of CASW, Anglesey Collection, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Flintshire Education Committee, Lincoln Earl Kennedy Bank SA, Football Association of Great Britain, Kansas City Art Gallery USA, and the Brazilian Consulate in Toronto, Canada. More recently he showed at the Attic Gallery, Swansea in 2005.
